Based in the United Kingdom, Currency Matters is a leading foreign currency exchange broker, specialising in international payments. The business works with both private and corporate clients around the world and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK.

The challenge

As a fully registered Money Service Business with HM Revenue & Customs, Currency Matters must comply with all aspects of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, EU Payment Regulations 2007, Transfer of Funds Regulations 2007 and Payment Service Regulations 2009.

Currency Matters employs a fully trained compliance team, led by Ronnie Conroy, Compliance Director. "As a growing business we need to have an effective tool to help us undertake the stringent due diligence procedures when bringing on new clients and on an ongoing basis." Currency Matters were already users of LexisNexis® Bridger Insight™ XG, capable of batch checking high volumes of clients in a single search. Bridger Insight enables Currency Matters to check their client base against constantly updated government sanctions and law enforcement watch lists. But, as international currency trade gets more complex and global, Currency Matters often need to go beyond the watch lists of Bridger Insight to perform fast due diligence checks.

"Watch lists provide reassurance that we are complying with regulation but we may want further company information, legal histories or to check for news about client companies or individuals," said Ronnie.

The solutions

LexisNexis recommended the deployment of Lexis Diligence®. Lexis Diligence provides access to more than 150 company databases with profiles of 130 million entities and global media resources from the most trusted sources in the world. Lexis Diligence enables users to quickly check high-risk entities against global databases of news, company filings, biographies, international legal case history sanctions and PEP lists to assist proof of identity and reveal associated interests.

The benefits

Global reach

Full audit trail

Easy to deploy and use

Of critical importance to Currency Matters was access to global information as Ronnie explains: "As business becomes ever more global, we are often dealing with international payments that are made by third or fourth parties. We needed insight to help us verify clients from across the world – particularly in South America and the Far East." With more than 23,000 trusted new sources around the world, Lexis Diligence provides access to information that can otherwise be difficult or very costly to obtain. "The global reach of Lexis Diligence outstrips any other product on the market," commented Ronnie.

A further consideration in deploying Lexis Diligence was the ability to record an audit trail of the due diligence conducted. As Ronnie underlined: "Currency Matters takes its compliance for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist finance regulations extremely seriously. By using Lexis Diligence we can ensure that there is a full and consistent record of our team's efforts permanently available. This provides reassurance to regulators and ensures that we continue to protect our global reputation as a leading international payment company."

Lexis Diligence supports an enhanced level of due diligence within Currency Matters in an effective way. "Having used Bridger Insight before, we were pleased that Lexis Diligence was so easy to use and that the team could integrate both Bridger Insight and Lexis Diligence," said Ronnie. "Lexis Diligence enables us to enhance our teams' efforts in a cost effective way and conduct the necessary checks without having to compile reports from a number of different sources."

As international currency trade becomes increasingly regulated, Currency Matters is using Lexis Diligence to support its compliance team as the business grows. "Whether we need to do checks on new clients, ongoing diligence or spot check a particular transaction, Lexis Diligence provides one resource for relevant, global information that supports Currency Matters' compliance processes," concluded Ronnie.